US Marine Corps Capt. Henry L. Hulbert: Medal of Honor Recipient

Welcome back everyone. On today's episode of Duty & Valor, you’ll hear the story of a British man who turned personal humiliation into a legendary Marine Corps career.  A man who distinguished himself during a bloody battle on the beaches of Samoa.  A man who at the age of 51, was still leading combat troops into battle.  This is the story of Medal of Honor recipient US Marine Corps Captain Henry Hulbert.   

On January 12, 1867 Henry Lewis Hulbert was born in Yorkshire ,England to a fairly prosperous merchant family.  He lived the life of privilege and attended Felstad School before entering the British Colonial Service in 1884, which was basically the government service that administered British overseas colonies.  

Soon after, he was sent to Malaysia where he met, and married, Anne Hewitt, the sister of his mentor Robert Hewitt.  Henry’s career was progressing as planned until he embroiled himself in a scandal.  Henry was found to be having an affair with his wife’s sister, Helen.  He was forced to divorce Anne, and Helen was sent back to England in disgrace, but tragically died when the ship she was on capsized and sank.  Henry was pushed out of his position with the British Colonial Service and was told to leave Malaysia.

In the aftermath of his scandal, Henry did some traveling before arriving in Alaska in 1897.  He unsuccessfully made it as a gold miner in Canada’s Yukon Territory, so he headed south to San Francisco, arriving in early 1898.  He was only there a short time before Henry, now 31 years old, enlisted as a private in the United States Marine Corps.

A few months later, in July, Private Hulbert was assigned to the cruiser USS Philadelphia as part of the Marine Guard.  The Philadelphia was out to sea for eight months before it was sent to Samoa by April, 1899.  The Samoan islands were in the middle of the Second Somoan Civil War, after the death of their King, and the Philadelphia was sent there to protect Americans, as part of an American and British operation.

He was sent ashore along with 19 other Marines and 36 sailors to confront hostile forces.  There they burned down the village huts of those believed to be insurgents.  After this act, they began to ford a river when they were ambushed by well armed Somoans.  The skirmish was brutal and bloody as the opposing sides fought in hand to hand combat.  As the American forces made their withdrawal towards the beach, Private Hulbert, along with two other men were ordered to defend a small opening on a fence that the rest of their unit would pass.  The two men leading the unit were the last to make their way to the opening when they were struck down by enemy fire.  Seeing that the two officers had fallen, Hulbert moved towards them, shooting and bayonetting anyone close to him.  When he reached the officers, he realized that they were dead.  Now injured himself, he made his way back to the fence opening and covered the withdrawal of the two other men who were protecting the fence line with him, allowing them to join the rest of their unit.  Private Hulbert laid down suppressing fire until he ran out of ammunition.  By this point the enemy was so close to him that he had to use his rifle as a club until he could take advantage of the chaos to rejoin his men.  For his actions on April 1, 1899, Private Hulbert was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The USS Philadelphia left Samoa late the following month and returned to California.  Hulbert was promoted to Corporal on May 29 and then to Sergeant on November 23.  By the time his first enlistment ended in 1903 he was the rank of First Sergeant and between 1903 and 1917, Hulbert re-enlisted four times.

By the time the US entered WWI, Hulbert  was serving on the staff of the Commandant of the Marine Corps.  On March 27, 1917 he was the first Marine to be promoted to the rank of warrant officer Marine Gunner, before volunteering for combat duty in Europe at the age of 51.

Hulbert was assigned to the 5th Regiment and fought in France.  Though his assignment to regimental headquarters gave him relative safety, Col. Wendell Neville wrote that Hulbert liked to “indulge himself in a bit of freelance fighting”.  During the Battle Belleau Wood he was recognized multiple times for acts of bravery,  was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and personally recommended for a commission as a captain by General John J. Pershing.

Though he wouldn’t immediately become a Captain, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. by the time his unit saw action at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry.   True to form for Lt. Hulbert, there he distinguished himself in combat yet again and was promoted to 1st Lt.  

On October 4, 1918, the second day of fighting at Blanc Mont Ridge, Lt. Hulbert was leading a platoon from the front when he was wounded by machine gun fire.  They soon had the Germans retreating, but during fighting Lt. Hulbert fell mortally wounded.   

By the time of his death, the recommendation for Hulbert’s promotion to Captain had made its way to the Secretary of Navy, who had approved it, but it came too late for Hulbert to know of this himself.  

Captain Henry Hulbert is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The nation would honor Captain Hulbert’s legacy by naming a destroyer the USS Hulbert in 1919.  The Hulbert was moored at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when it was attacked by Japanese forces.  The ship survived the attack and was credited with shooting down a Japanese Torpedo Bomber.  It served through WWII before being decommissioned in 1945. 

Henry L. Hulbert's story is one of unwavering courage that transcends age and rank.  A Marine who rose to the challenge in Samoa, earning the Medal of Honor. Throughout his career, he didn't shy away from further danger, continuing to display exceptional bravery in World War I. Captain Hulbert's Marine Corps service valued selflessness and putting duty above all else.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Duty & Valor.  To read more about this week’s hero, check out the sources used in today's episode in our show notes and at dutyandvalor.com.  

If you want to listen to our episodes early, we release new episodes on our YouTube channel of the same name on Fridays at 5pm.  Also, on our channel we release daily YouTube shorts that highlight our Nation’s heroes, most of whom haven’t been featured on the show yet. 

Be sure to like, follow, and share our episodes and please join us for our next episode, where we'll be sharing the inspiring story of another American hero who served with pride and lived with humility.